Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thanksgiving
To many, (especially young children), Thanksgiving is a day of gathering together and stuffing faces and bellies with turkey, dressing, pies and all sorts of goodies like green bean casserole...well, to the young ones, I'm sure the gb casserole is not considered a goodie! :)
To others, it is a day to be thankful for what God has blessed us with throughout the year and the blessings that we've received...until next year when we do it again..
Two thoughts come to mind:
1. This year, do we take for granted that there will be a next year?
Do we just automatically think that there will be blessings?
Are we just expecting God to bless us?
Is it time to really think about the blessings?
and
2. What if there is NO next year?
When do you actually think to Thank God for the blessings?
Do we wait until Thanksgiving to offer our thanks?
Is it time to realize that each day we wake up breathing, in itself, is a blessing to be thankful for each
and every day?
So, my thoughts are these:
1. Of course we take for granted there will be a next year. We would not survive thinking otherwise. It would mean that we would be thinking we'd be gone before the next one and that would make us think of all that we'd lose, miss, and so on.
Of course, we think there will automatically be blessings each year. If not, how could we survive? God promised to bless us, to prosper us....therefore, we will be/are blessed. It's up to you to find them. I even had to thank Him for bugs and roaches a few days back! (BLECH!)
Of course we expect God to bless us...we are human after all. The question is, are we seeing the blessings He's giving us? Do we realize that some of them are so small and simple that we could be forgetting to count them? Happens all the time.
Of course it's time to think about our blessings. Sometimes it is with joy and sometimes with pain, but we must think about them in order to appreciate what God is doing for us and through us. You never know, one day, you might be the blessing to someone! Think about that!
2. If there were no next year, would you be at peace? Would you feel that you had said what you wanted to say to those who need to hear it? Would you know where you would be spending eternity?
Would you consider the blessings that you might have given someone else that you neglected to do because you had your own plans? Get my point of thinking here? I'm scattered because I thought there would always be another year. For my son there wasn't. And for many others there were no more years as well. For friends, family members that have lost loved ones; We just assumed there would be another year.
We have friends, loved ones and family members that are serving over seas in the military in countries where they are despised, treated poorly and even tortured. Do we count them as blessings? Certainly. They are doing something to honor the American code of life. FREEDOM! They are fighting for us to be able to sit here on FB and write about God, the creater of all things, and the giver of life and the freedom to praise him and to thank him. All on Thanksgiving day. While they are in combat, in huts, in the sand, in the heat, without the comforts of home, their loved ones, their children, their parents, their Thanksgiving celebrations. Please, please remember these men and women that give us a blessing each and every day by having the heart for our country and the foundations on which our great nation was established.
For those of us who are seperated from loved ones, be it by death, or relocation, we are still thankful that we have the ability to count our blessings. Even in the hard times of seperation, when you want to have them near, some will return, and some will not. For me, I have it both ways. My son will never return, yet my sister and her family will. Still blessings, either way can be found. Ian is celebrating each and every day of his heavenly life with the Creator of ALL things...WOW!
My sister and her family are trying to find the blessings of celebrating without the large gathering to which we have all become accustomed to and they are having to deal with the cultural differences that make it near impossible to celebrate even close to how we do here. Simple things we take for granted, big ovens, A/C, availability of items needed....yet knowing them as I do, they will find blessings, even if through tears.
My tears seem to flow much more easily these days but I know, above and beyond all else, that I am truly blessed. God, even through my trials, blesses me each and every day, and if even only for the new breath I take each time, I am grateful.
Do you thank Him for your blessings constantly? Is it just a habit or is it the actual joy of knowing you've been blessed? Do you thank Him for the good and the bad? We learn from each so don't you think we should be thankful for both ways? For the cool breeze, and the roach that runs across the floor? For the new baby, and for the loss of a child? Seems harsh but it's reality. God has a purpose for us, as we have meaning to Him. Be thankful, even for the bad..."don't sweat the small stuff", does not mean don't be grateful for it!
Do not wait until Thanksgiving to begin to show thanks...show it year round...so that others can see that as Christ followers, we find that giving thanks to our Lord, is an honor, not a chore. Do not wait to give thanks until Thanksgiving, just because that's when the "whole" family will be there and you want to boast of your blessings. They are not to be boasted about. Share them, spread them, be them!
Every day when I wake up, I'm grateful for a new day. A new day to see more, to be more, to thank more, to share more, to do more, to learn more...etc. Though somedays, I hurt so deeply, physically and emotionally, the blessings still shine through. You will find many many more than you think when you start to consider the little things, for example...toilet paper!, running water, indoor plumbing....clothes washers and dryers...keep going..you'll find more and then the meaningful ones will start to surface...a childs laughter, your daughters smile, someone singing in the shower, the flowers blooming in your yard, the gentle frost gathered on the grass in the morning, the bird that flies overhead while you are griping about the heat...you have heat..others could be freezing....see where I'm going here...
Though this note is long, I pray you are blessed over and over and that you will begin to see the little things that bless us each day, and not just the big things that come to mind.
Be thankful! Our God is amazing and gives us countless blessings...find them, see them, spread them, share them, be them.....get it? got it? GOOD!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
(Ian, I miss you so much and I think of you every moment of each day. You are and were a blessing and though you are gone, I count you as many of mine each and every day. I love you son)
(Andrea, Tommy, Jakeb and Anna, I miss you all so much already. Only a few short hours ago, I shared your home and the blessings that we had together. I know that this year will be hard for you in many different ways, but through them all, know this....Each of you blessed me in different ways while we were there and I have thanked God over and over for that opportunity to share them with you. I know that you will be blessed, even if you can 't cook a turkey, or make the sweet potatoes, or whatever, there are blessings all over your home. Invite Janey! Let us be a blessing to Tori while we know you are apart during the first holiday seperated by many miles. Know that you are loved beyond comprehension, not just by our heavenly Daddy, but by your family. You bless people on a daily basis with your kindness, your honesty and your lives...I know that your Thanksgiving is already over and that you have "turned off" FB for a few days, but when you get back, I hope and pray that you have found the blessings you needed to find to make it through, and I hope you are able to share them with us!)
3 of my blessings!
To others, it is a day to be thankful for what God has blessed us with throughout the year and the blessings that we've received...until next year when we do it again..
Two thoughts come to mind:
1. This year, do we take for granted that there will be a next year?
Do we just automatically think that there will be blessings?
Are we just expecting God to bless us?
Is it time to really think about the blessings?
and
2. What if there is NO next year?
When do you actually think to Thank God for the blessings?
Do we wait until Thanksgiving to offer our thanks?
Is it time to realize that each day we wake up breathing, in itself, is a blessing to be thankful for each
and every day?
So, my thoughts are these:
1. Of course we take for granted there will be a next year. We would not survive thinking otherwise. It would mean that we would be thinking we'd be gone before the next one and that would make us think of all that we'd lose, miss, and so on.
Of course, we think there will automatically be blessings each year. If not, how could we survive? God promised to bless us, to prosper us....therefore, we will be/are blessed. It's up to you to find them. I even had to thank Him for bugs and roaches a few days back! (BLECH!)
Of course we expect God to bless us...we are human after all. The question is, are we seeing the blessings He's giving us? Do we realize that some of them are so small and simple that we could be forgetting to count them? Happens all the time.
Of course it's time to think about our blessings. Sometimes it is with joy and sometimes with pain, but we must think about them in order to appreciate what God is doing for us and through us. You never know, one day, you might be the blessing to someone! Think about that!
2. If there were no next year, would you be at peace? Would you feel that you had said what you wanted to say to those who need to hear it? Would you know where you would be spending eternity?
Would you consider the blessings that you might have given someone else that you neglected to do because you had your own plans? Get my point of thinking here? I'm scattered because I thought there would always be another year. For my son there wasn't. And for many others there were no more years as well. For friends, family members that have lost loved ones; We just assumed there would be another year.
We have friends, loved ones and family members that are serving over seas in the military in countries where they are despised, treated poorly and even tortured. Do we count them as blessings? Certainly. They are doing something to honor the American code of life. FREEDOM! They are fighting for us to be able to sit here on FB and write about God, the creater of all things, and the giver of life and the freedom to praise him and to thank him. All on Thanksgiving day. While they are in combat, in huts, in the sand, in the heat, without the comforts of home, their loved ones, their children, their parents, their Thanksgiving celebrations. Please, please remember these men and women that give us a blessing each and every day by having the heart for our country and the foundations on which our great nation was established.
For those of us who are seperated from loved ones, be it by death, or relocation, we are still thankful that we have the ability to count our blessings. Even in the hard times of seperation, when you want to have them near, some will return, and some will not. For me, I have it both ways. My son will never return, yet my sister and her family will. Still blessings, either way can be found. Ian is celebrating each and every day of his heavenly life with the Creator of ALL things...WOW!
My sister and her family are trying to find the blessings of celebrating without the large gathering to which we have all become accustomed to and they are having to deal with the cultural differences that make it near impossible to celebrate even close to how we do here. Simple things we take for granted, big ovens, A/C, availability of items needed....yet knowing them as I do, they will find blessings, even if through tears.
My tears seem to flow much more easily these days but I know, above and beyond all else, that I am truly blessed. God, even through my trials, blesses me each and every day, and if even only for the new breath I take each time, I am grateful.
Do you thank Him for your blessings constantly? Is it just a habit or is it the actual joy of knowing you've been blessed? Do you thank Him for the good and the bad? We learn from each so don't you think we should be thankful for both ways? For the cool breeze, and the roach that runs across the floor? For the new baby, and for the loss of a child? Seems harsh but it's reality. God has a purpose for us, as we have meaning to Him. Be thankful, even for the bad..."don't sweat the small stuff", does not mean don't be grateful for it!
Do not wait until Thanksgiving to begin to show thanks...show it year round...so that others can see that as Christ followers, we find that giving thanks to our Lord, is an honor, not a chore. Do not wait to give thanks until Thanksgiving, just because that's when the "whole" family will be there and you want to boast of your blessings. They are not to be boasted about. Share them, spread them, be them!
Every day when I wake up, I'm grateful for a new day. A new day to see more, to be more, to thank more, to share more, to do more, to learn more...etc. Though somedays, I hurt so deeply, physically and emotionally, the blessings still shine through. You will find many many more than you think when you start to consider the little things, for example...toilet paper!, running water, indoor plumbing....clothes washers and dryers...keep going..you'll find more and then the meaningful ones will start to surface...a childs laughter, your daughters smile, someone singing in the shower, the flowers blooming in your yard, the gentle frost gathered on the grass in the morning, the bird that flies overhead while you are griping about the heat...you have heat..others could be freezing....see where I'm going here...
Though this note is long, I pray you are blessed over and over and that you will begin to see the little things that bless us each day, and not just the big things that come to mind.
Be thankful! Our God is amazing and gives us countless blessings...find them, see them, spread them, share them, be them.....get it? got it? GOOD!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
(Ian, I miss you so much and I think of you every moment of each day. You are and were a blessing and though you are gone, I count you as many of mine each and every day. I love you son)
(Andrea, Tommy, Jakeb and Anna, I miss you all so much already. Only a few short hours ago, I shared your home and the blessings that we had together. I know that this year will be hard for you in many different ways, but through them all, know this....Each of you blessed me in different ways while we were there and I have thanked God over and over for that opportunity to share them with you. I know that you will be blessed, even if you can 't cook a turkey, or make the sweet potatoes, or whatever, there are blessings all over your home. Invite Janey! Let us be a blessing to Tori while we know you are apart during the first holiday seperated by many miles. Know that you are loved beyond comprehension, not just by our heavenly Daddy, but by your family. You bless people on a daily basis with your kindness, your honesty and your lives...I know that your Thanksgiving is already over and that you have "turned off" FB for a few days, but when you get back, I hope and pray that you have found the blessings you needed to find to make it through, and I hope you are able to share them with us!)
3 of my blessings!
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Singing In Singapore
I am still not sure I really truly believe I am here...In Singapore...with my sister and her family. What a blessing and what a joy to see them for the first time and each morning when we wake up...there they are....the departure will be bittersweet though...not thinking of that just yet.
We have seen some places and bought some things and eaten LOTS of different foods and tasted some incredibly yummy and totally disgusting things....(keep on laughing Anna).
Our stay has been catered to by Andrea and she has thought of everything. She even had an umbrella, a coin purse and a bus card AS WELL AS a cell phone for us to use in an emergency....WOW! She's been amazing....
Let me just say that if you are a guest in this house, there will be nothing lacking! Can you say big flat screen tv...2 air cons, and a fully stocked (with our fav beverages) fridge?!!!!
Andrea and Tommy have done everything possible to make things easy for us and they have driven us around as much as possible to help with our feet problems...I know that they are missing out on some alone time but I can't say that I'm sad...haha I'm loving this... I am really enjoying the place, the people, the food (well some of it) and the atmosphere. Here, things are much different but they are all the same at the same time.... just different...
There are many cultures living on this island and they have all seemed to find a way to work out their differences and exist together in the space allowed... Even in the hawker centres, there are dozens of similar and vastly different food stalls just waiting to serve you....begging sometimes...to serve you. I love this...
Well, as to the title of this blog....I was outside late one evening, about 9pm here, and was just looking up amazed that there were no stars, when all of a sudden one appeared. It was the only one I could see but I loved it. I genuinely loved it.
To me, the stars represent Gods gift of life for us. There are as many of us as there are stars...etc...
When I am at home, in my yard, in the dark, there are billions of them just smiling at me and it is at those times, that words come to me....many of my poems begin just standing under the night sky and loving that God chose to display them for me. (not just me, but you know what I mean).
Sometimes, while I'm standing there, I will just start singing a poem, a song, a lyric that comes to me in the moment. I love this. God uses my willingness to love what he has created to teach me, to show me to love me!
So, the other night..haha I was outside on the front porch of Andrea's home when I just began to sing. The first thing I realized besides that I was singing, was that I was looking at ONE star, in the big sky it was all I could see. The second thing was, a wondering if Paul could see the same star (I know better, but it came to me that way). The last thing was that HE, God, could still see me wherever I was, no matter what, no matter where, I was visible to Him. This made me smile and I sang more! haha Not that what I'd be saying could really be considered a song but it was from my heart and was meaningful to me...and maybe to God, not sure about that.
I was wondering if He could feel my love, feel my heart, hear my song.
Weird blog, but it is what it is...
I WAS SINGING IN SINGAPORE!!!
Wish you were singing here with me!
We have seen some places and bought some things and eaten LOTS of different foods and tasted some incredibly yummy and totally disgusting things....(keep on laughing Anna).
Our stay has been catered to by Andrea and she has thought of everything. She even had an umbrella, a coin purse and a bus card AS WELL AS a cell phone for us to use in an emergency....WOW! She's been amazing....
Let me just say that if you are a guest in this house, there will be nothing lacking! Can you say big flat screen tv...2 air cons, and a fully stocked (with our fav beverages) fridge?!!!!
Andrea and Tommy have done everything possible to make things easy for us and they have driven us around as much as possible to help with our feet problems...I know that they are missing out on some alone time but I can't say that I'm sad...haha I'm loving this... I am really enjoying the place, the people, the food (well some of it) and the atmosphere. Here, things are much different but they are all the same at the same time.... just different...
There are many cultures living on this island and they have all seemed to find a way to work out their differences and exist together in the space allowed... Even in the hawker centres, there are dozens of similar and vastly different food stalls just waiting to serve you....begging sometimes...to serve you. I love this...
Well, as to the title of this blog....I was outside late one evening, about 9pm here, and was just looking up amazed that there were no stars, when all of a sudden one appeared. It was the only one I could see but I loved it. I genuinely loved it.
To me, the stars represent Gods gift of life for us. There are as many of us as there are stars...etc...
When I am at home, in my yard, in the dark, there are billions of them just smiling at me and it is at those times, that words come to me....many of my poems begin just standing under the night sky and loving that God chose to display them for me. (not just me, but you know what I mean).
Sometimes, while I'm standing there, I will just start singing a poem, a song, a lyric that comes to me in the moment. I love this. God uses my willingness to love what he has created to teach me, to show me to love me!
So, the other night..haha I was outside on the front porch of Andrea's home when I just began to sing. The first thing I realized besides that I was singing, was that I was looking at ONE star, in the big sky it was all I could see. The second thing was, a wondering if Paul could see the same star (I know better, but it came to me that way). The last thing was that HE, God, could still see me wherever I was, no matter what, no matter where, I was visible to Him. This made me smile and I sang more! haha Not that what I'd be saying could really be considered a song but it was from my heart and was meaningful to me...and maybe to God, not sure about that.
I was wondering if He could feel my love, feel my heart, hear my song.
Weird blog, but it is what it is...
I WAS SINGING IN SINGAPORE!!!
Wish you were singing here with me!
